Coming Out of Your Shell
by TheSusanturpin
Summary: Zanne's 7th year at Hogwarts is beginning and she is determined to make it memorable. What happens when she finally befriends the one she has admired from afar since she began at Hogwarts? Read&Review please! CHAPTER 5 UP!
1. The Past

A/N: Hullo, and welcome to my first fic here. I'm not going to lie, I'm not great at this stuff. I'm better at original stuff, but that's beside the point. All the characters you recognize belong to none other than the amazing JK Rowling. Everyone else belongs to me. And only me. Reviews are lovely, constructive ones are even better. Have fun reading!

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For as long as she could remember, Suzanne Thomas wasn't normal. She gave off the impression that she was never entirely sure who she was, where she was going, or what she was doing. She had never received any guidance from adults in her life; her mother died when she was seven years old and her father was a workaholic, spending sixteen-hour days at the Ministry of Magic and the remainder of his nights drinking heavily. Zanne, as her mother had nicknamed her when she was born, often wondered how a man of such determination and intelligence could fall into such a wicked, nasty habit.  
  
She had no release other than her schooling. She knew from birth that she was a witch, coming from a pureblood family that wasn't quite up to the other purebloods' standards. Her mother had been somewhat of a muggle sympathizer, wanting to loan her time and talents to educating muggles about the wizarding world. Her father adamantly opposed this sort of "nonsense", as he called it. He felt that muggles and wizards were separated for a reason, and it should stay that way.  
  
Every summer, the only thing on her mind was Hogwarts. Zanne remembered the day she received her letter..._"Oh, dad! Look! It's a letter from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry!" Zanne exclaimed, picking up the letter from the stack. Her father grunted, not differentiating between an excited or apathetic response.  
  
Zanne tore open the small envelope and read the calligraphy script...  
  
Dear Miss Thomas, We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  
  
She didn't read any further. Running up to her room, she took out a large binder that held papers and other things that held sentimental value. She carefully placed the letter in the front sheet protector and admired it. "It even has my name – my FULL name! Oh, wow... I'll have to get an owl, and robes, and books, and quills, and—"  
  
The door to her room swung open hard. Zanne stood up quickly, letting the binder fall to the floor. The tall frame that had opened the door stepped into the room, making Zanne draw in a sharp breath.  
  
"You really want to go to Hogwarts?" he asked, standing in front of her. She nodded, only moving her head as much as she needed to confirm her father's question. He loomed over her for a moment. He wasn't a warm father; he never showed any signs of affection towards her, and rarely had shown any towards Zanne's mother. After a while, he grinned.  
  
"Alright. We'll have to make a trip Diagon Alley in about a week anyway; no sense in putting off buying your school supplies until right before school starts."_

__  
  
Zanne smiled at the memory. Buying her first wizarding supplies had been the greatest thing of her life, save receiving her Hogwarts letter.  
  
Her years at Hogwarts were not necessarily bad; they were simply uneventful. Her studies went unbothered, mostly due to the fact that she was a bit of a loner; never entirely shying away from people, yet never desiring any form of companionship, whether romantic or platonic. She would walk down the huge corridors at school, subtly watching the other students as they carried on conversations of who they fancied, upcoming exams, and the most recent heroic efforts of one Harry Potter.  
  
Harry Potter.  
  
It was a name that made Zanne's face turn flush. She knew he would never notice her; he spent far too much time fawning over Cho Chang to even know that there were other girls attending Hogwarts. She was the victim of an unrequited crush since they were both first years, and as their seventh year began, any chances she might've had seemed to diminish greatly. She didn't want to worry about it too much – she would be graduating in less than a year and, if everything worked out according to plan, leave for Auror training very soon after.  
  
The future was something very important to Zanne. Much like her mother, she was a bit of a philanthropist; but like her father, she was determined to do her best. She wanted to do especially well in her studies this year, what with it being the seventh year and all. She didn't want to disappoint anyone who might be overseeing her training, and she was going to make sure that it was going to be a year to remember.

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OK, that's the first chapter. I'm working on the second, I _promise _it'll be better... and longer. Review if you like, but don't be OVERLY mean! ;) ♥ 


	2. Just the Beginning

A/N: Ooh, yay! Second chapter! I told you it was going to be longer. This was actually what I had started out with, but I needed development and all that... stuff. Yeah. But, please read, and remember that this is a work in progress that will be developed a LOT more as time goes on. I'm not planning on making this girl a Mary Sue (my original intention was to make her fall for Ron, but then I decided that it wasn't a good idea), so you can be muy, muy thankful. There might be flings here and there, but it won't take over the whole story. Once again, anything you recognize is the property of the lovely JK Rowling, and everything else... is mine. Even the cat, who is modeled after mine, simply because she passed thru the room when I got to that part.

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Zanne stepped out of the small, rusty car her father bought for her on her 17th birthday. The train station was abuzz with people scurrying about, searching for the proper platform. She smiled. Happiness washed over her as she made her way towards her destination – platform 9 and ¾.  
  
Returning to Hogwarts was the highlight of her year. She loved the start-of- term feast, watching the first-years get sorted into their appropriate houses and the expressions on their faces when the Sorting Hat bellowed its decision and scurried them off to the appropriate tables. Seeing her favorite professors was a joy as well. As much as everyone else hated him, Zanne always had a liking for Professor Snape – she hated the fact that he was a dastardly, mean professor, but she believed that Snape was, really, much like her – reserved, misunderstood; the difference between them, however, was that Snape took out much of his frustrations on his students. Luckily, Zanne was no one to be particularly outspoken during classes, so she never received the full brunt of Snape's malicious comments.  
  
Zanne shook her head and snapped back to reality. She could daydream later – now, she had to get her trunk on the train and find an empty seat.  
  
Trying to find a compartment that wasn't already filled with gobs of people gossiping about their summer and what events had taken place was a difficult task. She finally found one that contained a ginger-haired, fluffy cat that looked as if it had run face-first into wall and survived to tell the tale. Zanne chuckled softly to herself, and made her way inside the compartment. She set down her own cat; a thin-boned, light calico named Sarahina, and plopped heavily into the seat. The ginger cat jumped slightly and hissed at Sarahina, who remained undaunted.  
  
Zanne's brow furrowed – she'd seen this cat somewhere before, but she wasn't entirely sure where. She knew it wasn't McGonagall; professors at Hogwarts arrived to school in an entirely different fashion than the students. Besides, McGonagall's cat form looked much different than this powder puff someone was attempting to pass off as a cat. Zanne sighed.  
  
"I should keep you in here, shouldn't I, you ball of fluff?" Zanne reached to scratch the cat's head, but it recoiled when it saw her hand moving and hissed. "Hmph," she said, "I'm guessing your owner isn't much on people either."  
  
Just then, Zanne heard voices coming down the hall towards her compartment. "This time, it isn't my fault! If you didn't have that bloody beast, finding him wouldn't be such a nightmare," a boy's voice said, sounding aggravated. A girl's voice, sounding equally vexed, replied, "Honestly, Ronald! You're being of no help at _all_; the least you could do is help me search!"  
  
Two figures appeared at the door of the compartment. The girl's eyes fell on the ginger cat and her face lit up. "Crookshanks!" she yelled, "Where on earth have you been, you silly thing?" She smiled at Zanne. "Thanks so much for looking after him. I don't know what I would've done if I had lost him." Zanne forced a weak smile at the girl and shrugged her shoulders, as if to say _No problem._  
  
"Every year, it always happens. We don't find our compartment right when we get on the train, so we're stuck with something that is complete _crap_. Why didn't we learn after third year?" A tall, lanky frame appeared in the doorway, wearing worn khaki pants and a green track jacket with white stripes running down the arms. Zanne's heart stopped – she knew in an instant that the boy standing there was none other than Harry Potter. "Oh, hello," Harry said. "I didn't know there was someone else in here... nice choice, guys." Harry glared at the boy and girl sitting in the compartment with Zanne. The boy blushed, turning the same color as his tousled, fiery red hair. Zanne sunk down in her seat, quite embarrassed. Harry saw the expression on her face. "Oh, I didn't mean it like that. I told them quite a few times before we boarded that I wanted to try and get a compartment to ourselves, but Hermione lost her cat –" The redheaded boy sniggered at the mention of Hermione's "pet" – "and we had to search for it."  
  
"Perfectly fine," Zanne said, acting nonchalant. "If everywhere else is full to the busting point, you guys can sit in here. I'd be by myself otherwise or worse – stuck with Luna." Zanne rolled her eyes at the thought of Loony Luna. She was a nice enough girl, but lacked social skills and, more importantly, tact. Zanne liked to think that, despite her loner nature, she wasn't as bad as Luna – was she? She dismissed the thought and beckoned the trio into the compartment.  
  
On the long train ride to Hogwarts, Zanne learned that the redhead's name was Ron Weasley and the girl was Hermione Granger. She learned that Ron was keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team and that he secretly hated it at times. She learned that Crookshanks had nearly eaten Ron's pet rat third year, but he wasn't REALLY a rat, actually the betrayer of Harry's parents in his animagus form posing as Ron's pet rat. She learned about Hermione's parents. Hermione was muggle-born, a fact that surprised Zanne greatly.  
  
"When did you know you were a witch?" Zanne asked. Hermione shrugged a little. "I'm not entirely sure, to be honest with you. I... I guess when I received my letter. I'm the only witch in the family; we never dealt with it."  
  
Zanne smiled a bit. She didn't ever remember a time when she WASN'T around magic – her mother constantly charmed brooms to sweep the kitchen, the bathrooms, the living room; magic was something so commonplace, she couldn't dream of never living without it.  
  
As the sky grew darker and Hogwarts drew closer, Zanne found herself at a sudden comfortable place. She had been carrying on semi-intelligent (except for when Ron and Harry got into the row about whether Puddlemere United or Chudley Cannons was the better Quidditch team) conversation with three genuine people who didn't leave her out of the discussions – even Harry had asked Zanne a few questions, something she would've avoided at all costs before today. Somehow, she found herself not admiring him as much as she had. _Crushes from afar put people up on pedestals_, Zanne thought. _You weren't seeing him for him, but for what you wanted him to be_. She stood up to get her tote from the overhead shelf. _Maybe he's not all he's hyped up to be..._

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Muchas gracias, senor(ita)s! Review to your heart's content. :) If anyone would like to help me develop this fic, lemme know. Just email me, or tell me in a review. Oh, and reviews are great. Think I'm being subtle enough? ;) 


	3. Finding Confidence

A/N: Wow! This chapter was turned out fast, and I must admit that I'm actually fairly proud of it. I sat down at the computer tonight with the full intention of getting at least half a chapter down, but it turns out that I worked faster than I thought I would! Thanks muchly to draco and me 14142 and kicksomeass for their wonderful reviews :) Go check out their fics! Good times. :) And, as usual, anything you recognize is the property of the wonderful JK Rowling and belongs solely to her. Anything you don't recognize is the property of ME and only ME, because I got this idea from myself and only myself :)

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After her conversation on the train with the three Gryffindors, Zanne found herself more open to talking to her fellow students in her own house. She looked up and down the Ravenclaw table at the people who had been in the same dormitories, same classes, same everything since first year. She wondered how she had come to separate herself from these people; so many of them seemed smart and genuinely interested in what she had to say. The fact that people were actually listening to her made Zanne become more comfortable with sharing things with her housemates, like how her summer had been, what classes she was looking forward to, what professors she despised...  
  
Zanne glanced up to the Gryffindor table. She had caught Hermione's eye and waved a little and was surprised when the girl actually waved back. She smiled and saw Hermione nudge Harry, who waved as well. She saw him smile broadly, the corners of his eyes wrinkling. That's how she knew a genuine smile – when the corners of the person's eyes wrinkled and formed little crow's feet. Zanne remembered seeing the skin around her mother's eyes constantly making the little feet, as if she had a smile on her face that would never go away. She felt a little pang in her heart as she remembered the beautiful face of her mother becoming pale with sickness. The months she spent in St. Mungo's weren't enough to make her all better. Zanne's young mind wasn't able to comprehend the fatality of her mother's illness, but as the years went by, she was able to understand more and more just how much pain her mother had gone through. The simple thought of her made Zanne's heart break all over again.  
  
She heard, as if in the distance, Professor McGonagall tap her glass to command the attention of the Great Hall, but didn't look up to see who was speaking and didn't listen to hear what they were speaking about. She dreaded listening to Dumbledore's long, pre-term speeches. They were long and tedious, saying things that had been said at the end of term last year, but Dumbledore felt some need to reiterate his points. _He's just an old man,_ Zanne though. _He probably doesn't remember what he had for breakfast, much less what he mentioned a few months ago in one of the probably thousands of speeches he's made in his lifetime._  
  
Zanne jumped when she felt an elbow jab into her side. She looked at the owner of the elbow and saw that it was Cho Chang, seeker on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and notoriously known around Gryffindor house for breaking Harry's heart over a span of four years. Zanne wasn't sure how she felt about Cho – on one hand, she had to like her because they were not only housemates but roommates. But on the other hand, Zanne felt under no obligation to be friendly to someone who had strung on the one she'd had feelings for since first year.  
  
"What?" Zanne hissed, trying to maintain a whisper. She didn't want to call attention to her table and lose points before the term even officially began.  
  
"Shouldn't you be paying attention to what Dumbledore's saying? It's not like this is something to be put onto the back burner, you know. You should listen to the man." Cho turned back around and went on listening to Dumbledore's speech. Zanne internally rolled her eyes and went back to picking at her food. She hadn't eaten that much that day, much less that evening. The mix of excitement and pure fear dulled her appetite and made even the sweetest of foods taste like chalk dust. She set her fork down on her plate with a loud _clang_. Even Zanne was taken aback at the sudden loud noise, and even more startled to see a good majority of her table, along with the students sitting at the Slytherin house table, staring at her as if she had four heads. She put her forehead in her palms and tried not to draw any more attention.  
  
_OK, so I have a whole row of Slytherins who now think I'm odd because I put down my fork wrong. Oh, hell, at least it's not something major. And it's just Slytherins; it's not like it's the end of the world... or Harry thinking I'm some kind of nutcase_, Zanne thought. _Things could be worse._  
  
Zanne noticed students standing up all around her, moving towards the exit and to their dormitories. She quickly stood and followed her housemates. A little further up, she noticed Harry and Ron walking with each other, in a seemingly deep conversation. She quickened her step a bit and caught up with them. She nudged Ron in the arm and he looked over at her with surprise. He smiled a little bit and greeted her.  
  
"Wasn't expecting you to talk to us outside the train," Ron remarked. She blushed and shook her head. _Of course I'd talk to the two of you_, Zanne thought. _Any chance for you to even acknowledge my existence is great for me. Oh, what am I saying?! It's not like they're gods or something. Just students... just like you._ Ron looked at her with a quizzical look on his face. Zanne shook her head and came back to reality.  
  
"Wasn't expecting you two to talk to me, to be honest with you," Zanne said coolly. "Though you'd think I was mental." She giggled a little bit. Realizing what she had just done, she clamped a hand over her mouth and blushed furiously. "Erm... sorry. That was the teenage girl coming out in me. She doesn't appear very often, but when she does, she comes in full force!" She grinned and looked over at Harry. "So, are you going to Hogsmeade at all this year, Harry?"  
  
The raven-haired boy shrugged. "It's not my decision... the Dursleys refuse to have anything to do with me, especially when it comes to magic. They hate to acknowledge the fact that I was born to wizarding parents, so they act like I'm just some random kid that was dumped on their front doorstep." Harry shoved his hands in his pockets and hung his head a little bit low. Zanne felt sorry for Harry; no one deserved to be denied of the world they belonged in. She moved over in between the two boys and gave Harry a one- armed hug. He grinned a bit. "Thanks. I think I needed that."  
  
"I know what it's like to be treated as a burden. It's a horrid, wretched feeling that can't just go away. It's something that can only be dealt with in time, and sometimes... you don't feel like you have that time." Zanne shrugged as she sighed deeply. "I've got to go, my housemates are probably wondering where on earth I am. I guess I'll see you tomorrow morning, eh?" She smiled a bit and waved as they separated.  
  
Zanne found a couple of her fellow Ravenclaws and slipped in when they entered the dormitories. She was trying to find some way to remember _cave canem_ – the new password to enter into the Ravenclaw common room._ I'll look it up when I get to my room_, she thought. Zanne climbed the stairs that led to the girls' dormitories and was surprised to hear... nothing. Normally, when she walked up the stairs to the rooms, she heard fits of giggles and shouting coming from the rooms as girls caught up on events that took place over the summer. Walking slowly, she eased her way into the hallway leading to her room. She was a bit scared – why was there no noise? Why were the rooms completely silent, when there should have been girls screaming and chattering, unpacking their belongings and decorating their rooms with posters and pictures? Wouldn't they be doing something like putting makeup on each other or braiding everyone's hair and whatnot? Zanne frowned. Did she really think that was what happened in the girls' rooms? _No_, she thought, that's not what happens. _I've lived with these girls for six years; I think I know what they do._ As she reached her room, her heart began pounding. Oh, shut UP, she told her heart. She put her hand on the doorknob and slowly pushed the door open.  
  
As the door swung into the room, Zanne found nothing out of the ordinary – girls were talking, comparing clothes and showing off the latest fashions that their parents had just gotten flown in from Milan and Paris and Rome. Zanne rolled her eyes and went in the room. A couple of girls greeted her, asking how her summer went. She went through the polite required small talk and then felt a wave of sleepiness wash over her. She unpacked some of her clothes and took out a pair of pajamas that she'd had since she began at Hogwarts. She hadn't grown any since she was 11; she shot up like a weed between the ages of 7 and 10, so most of her growing was complete by the time she needed her Hogwarts robes – something her father was very grateful for. She hadn't gained much weight either – mostly just the standard curves that came with puberty that she had managed to hide rather well. She almost wondered why she was so self-conscious, but then she realized that she didn't want people to have the wrong impression of her just because she had began to accept the fact that she had a figure. _I just don't want to be another Pansy Parkinson_, Zanne thought. She chortled internally and changed into her pajamas.  
  
As she climbed into bed, she wondered why there had been no noise as she approached the dormitories. Did Dumbledore put a special silencing charm on the dorms so that the girls' talking wouldn't bother any of the other rooms? Or were they there for a different, more important purpose? _Whatever it is, I'm not going to think about it now._

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Thanks for reading... review? I'd love you forever. :) And I DO mean forever! 


	4. The Dark Vision

A/N: Yaay! Chapter 4! Thanks for the reviews, you kids rock. I think this one's better than 1 & 2, but not 3. 3 was pretty good. Not to sound conceited, but with how short a time I churned that out in and how much more I thought about that chapter than the first two... yanno. Anyways! This chapter's kind of sad, just to let you know. And as usual, anything you recognize belongs to the smashing JK Rowling. And anything you don't recognize belongs to me.

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Weeks passed. Zanne found herself in the easiest school year she had encountered yet – being genuinely happy made studying easier for her and making good marks lifted her spirits even more. She found herself occasionally sitting at the Gryffindor table, between Harry and Ron and across from Hermione. Their conversations ceased to contain only small talk, like the weather or how much they hated being reminded about the N.E.W.T.S every twenty minutes by their professors. She learned a great deal about the Gryffindor trio; something she wasn't hesitant to learn. She felt respected for one of the first times in her life, and, more importantly, loved.  
  
_I hope things keep going well_, Zanne thought,_ I'm on a roll here_.  
  
Soon afterwards, though, her life took a turn towards the bizarre.  
  
Much like any other Hogwarts student, Zanne wasn't very fond of her potions class. It wasn't so much the mixing of the ingredients and the patience that was required to have every single detail precise; it was the fact that it was her only class of the day that she didn't have with Ron, Hermione, or Harry. Even worse, she was stuck in that class with Slytherins, who she had grown to despise over her years at school. They had a tendency to sabotage other students' potions, stealthily placing an extra measure of wolfsbane into their cauldron as they walked by. The result was usually an explosion of some sort, with points taken off from any house Snape felt like and zero marks for the day.  
  
As she sat in the cold, eerie dungeon that was Professor Snape's classroom, Zanne felt a sudden chill envelope her. She wasn't one to be sensitive to extremely cold temperatures, so the iciness that overtook her was something that alarmed her. She bolted upright and began shivering, her teeth chattering audibly. Her breathing became heavy and she wrapped her arms around herself in an attempt to warm herself. Her potions partner, a blonde- haired greasy-looking Slytherin, jumped out of her seat and screamed.  
  
"Professor Snape! Professor Snape! Thomas is going into convulsions!" The girl whined as Zanne shook from the cold, frightened by the sudden onset of the temperature change. Zanne was taken to a scene many years ago...  
  
_The man stood behind the front door, alarmed at who he saw through the peephole. "Lil!" He yelled at his wife, who stood frozen in the bedroom they shared with their infant son. She ran to her husband's side. "We've got to run." He pushed her back to their room and began hastily packing necessary items to survive for a few days. He figured they would escape to another hideout, one that was even more hidden than the one they had been staying at for the past year. He heard the front door fly off its hinges and crash in the entrance hall. The footsteps of 10, 12 people were heard entering, making pictures hanging on the wall crash down.  
  
"Find them," the leader hissed. With his wand still out, he began to make his way to the back of the house. His eyes darted into each room as he walked down the hall, his boots making a loud thudding noise on the hardwood floor. A man appeared in the doorway to one of the rooms.  
  
"Ahh. We finally meet... James Potter. I have warned you before and my patience is wearing thin repeating myself. Hand the boy over to me." The leader held a hand out, beckoning James.  
  
"I will sooner die than give you my son." James stood defiant in the doorway, blocking the man's path. He tilted his chin up and rolled his hands into fists. He knew what was about to take place. He had been warned from the very beginning. But he knew the sacrifice he had to make to save his child.  
  
"Very well," the man said in a low, dangerous voice. A bright green light flashed from his wand like lightening and struck James. His body fell to the floor; a crumpled pile of limbs lay where the bold man had stood just moments before. The man stepped gracefully over James's body and walked slowly into the bedroom. He saw the figure of a woman standing over a crib, as if protecting something.  
  
"Lily... how nice. You and Potter, married and with child. You know what I came for, Lily. Give him to me." The man raised his wand, ready to strike again if necessary.  
  
A tear dropped from Lily's eye as she stood just as her husband had. She frowned and shook her head slowly. "You will not have my child." She looked over at her husband's body, still lying in the doorway. Her hand flew to her mouth to cover the sob that escaped her lips. The man followed her gaze and smiled.  
  
"I did what I had to do, Lily. Don't make me do it again... just give him to me." He took a few steps towards her and held his arms open. Lily ran at him, ready to use muggle force. He grabbed his wand and the same flash of green light came from his wand, knocking the woman down and killing her. He moved slowly towards the crib where the small child lay, as if oblivious to the horrid events that had just taken place.  
  
"You, you small little runt... you will not be the downfall of me. You will not be the reason I do not rise to power!" He waved his wand and prepared to kill the small child. Suddenly, he was jolted backwards, as if some giant invisible fist had punched him in the stomach and thrown him against the wall. He hit the wall with a great_ thud _and screamed in agony. He stood up again and moved towards the child. He prepared to throw the same curse, but it backfired and he ended up hitting himself. The man screamed once again, writhing on the ground in pain. His very soul left his body and flew from the room, vowing revenge on the small child named Harry Potter.  
_  
Zanne awoke in the hospital wing, surrounded by various students from both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor and a few professors. She gasped when her eyes fell on Harry, who was standing right above her. She sat up abruptly and breathed heavily. Immediately she began crying.  
  
"Zanne? Zanne, what's wrong? What happened? Did you black out? Did you accidentally eat any of your potions ingredients?" Harry bombarded her with questions as he watched the girl sob. She heard Snape make a smarmy remark in response to Harry's last question, but didn't bother to absorb the answer. Zanne was horrified at the images she had just seen – the brutality of the killings; the lack of conscience on the part of the man; the bravery of the man and the woman as they protected their child... the seriousness of what she had just seen hit her like a ton of bricks.  
  
"Harry," she began, "I just saw your parents. I... I saw them die, Harry. Oh Merlin." She began sobbing again. Harry's face lost all the color and he looked as if he was about to faint. "I didn't even know what was happening until I saw your Mum, Harry. I didn't know what I was looking at. And I don't know why this happened! I don't know why I just suddenly saw this!"  
  
Harry wrapped his arms around Zanne, allowing her to sob into his shoulder. A tear fell from Harry's eye onto the sleeve of her robe and disappeared into the black fabric. He stroked her hair, trying to calm her down. He wanted to tell her that it was alright, that it was just something she had dreamed, something that wasn't real. But it was real. It was something that had happened – but how did she know? How did she see how Harry's parents had died, when not even Harry had seen any visions of it? He wanted to ask her so many things, but for the time being, he simply let the girl cry.

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Thanks for reading! Review if you like ;) Tell all your friends! Let 'em know about my fics! I have another one up that's called That Which Does Not Kill You, it's a one-shot fic that's pretty short. But I like it. Anyways! Have a great day, kids. :)


	5. Contemplating

A/N: OK, here's chapter 5. Sorry it took a while to get up... I've been ultra-mega-super busy with a show that just finished and various crap going on. But! I am back, and definitely writing more. I'm planning on writing some parodies of various Sue-related fics, so if anyone would like to give me some ideas, feel free. I'd more than love them. And you. As usual, anything you recognize belongs to the magnificent JK Rowling, and anything you don't belongs to me and only me.

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Zanne and Hermione sat in the Room of Requirement during dinner a few days later attempting to figure out the cause of Zanne's vision. Neither of them could think of anything – as far as Zanne knew, she didn't have any kind of connection to Voldemort except for her friendship with Harry. She had never encountered the Dark Lord in any way; she came from a very prominent family of purebloods, none of whom had ever given Voldemort any reason to even know they existed. The two girls exhausted every single possibility before finally giving up. Hermione closed the book she had been looking through.  
  
"Are you sure Harry never told you about what happened to his parents?" Hermione asked rather skeptically. Zanne rolled her eyes and nodded.  
  
"Hermione, I don't think even Harry knows exactly what happened that night. Why would he tell me, anyway? I barely know him... come to think of it, I barely know any of you... we don't know anything about each other. It's you three and then... me." Zanne sighed and shrugged, getting up from the floor. Hermione scowled a little bit.  
  
"Just because we barely know you doesn't mean we don't like you," Hermione replied. "Harry, Ron and I were practically strangers when we discovered Fluffy. But that doesn't mean that we completely deserted each other when something happened. We were friends... you're our friend."  
  
Zanne looked at Hermione. "That was, perhaps, the cheesiest, most cliché thing you have ever said." She grinned wildly and threw a pillow at the bushy-haired girl. The two laughed and went on to catch up with Ron and Harry, in hopes of grabbing some dinner before the two teenage boys ate up the entire Great Hall. Hermione walked down the corridor with a slight bounce in her step, as if she was anticipating something – something that would make her incredibly happy. Zanne raised an eyebrow and gave Hermione an odd look, but just shook her head and sighed loudly.  
  
Zanne narrowed her eyes and she surveyed the huge room before her. She caught sight of a few Hufflepuffs who she had talked to in class a few times; some Slytherins who were with her in Potions when she'd had the vision (Zanne shuddered – she hated to think of that as a vision; she classified it as a nightmare during daytime hours); two of her roommates; and finally, Ron and Harry, sitting next to two tall, gangly redheaded boys who were exact replicas of each other. She raised her eyebrows, slightly surprised at the sight of the infamous Weasley twins. She had figured, what with the wonderful stunt they pulled two years ago when they were 7th years, they would never want to set foot inside the Hogwarts grounds ever again. Guess I was wrong, Zanne thought. She made Harry move over and plopped down between him and Ron.  
  
"Well, well, well, what have we here," said the twin to Zanne's left. "Certainly not a Gryffindor – you don't have the same stench as ickle Ronniekins." He poked Ron in the neck, causing the younger Weasley boy to squirm and sock his brother in the arm. She saw the twin's eyes dart to the colors on her robes. Either that or my chest, Zanne thought, rolling her eyes. The elder Weasley gave her a bit of a glare. He turned to his duplicate. "Ravenclaw."  
  
The silent Weasley gave Zanne a once-over. "You just know 'cause you looked at her robes, you stupid git." He stuck out his hand awkwardly for Zanne to shake. "I'm George Weasley - older brother to one Ron Weasley and the better half of the owners of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. This here," he continued, pointing at the wizard sitting beside him, "is Fred."  
  
"Charmed, really. I am more than familiar with the spectacular display of contempt towards Professor Umbridge -- erm, the Toadstool two years ago. The only question I have for the two of you is... why haven't your parents murdered you yet?" Zanne leaned on the table, propped up by her right forearm. She tilted her head slightly, expectant of a truthful answer. Fred winced slightly, feigning offense.  
  
"Touché, madam. You lot have found your match," Fred said, gesturing to Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. Zanne knew exactly what Hermione was thinking – It's always something to do with a Weasley boy, Zanne thought. Whether she's thinking about Ron or completely hating one of the twins...  
  
"Err, Harry? Hermione and I need to talk to you... to ask you a few things. Alone. As in, not in the presence of the entire school." Zanne looked up at Harry with a pleading in her eyes, something unmistakable. The two of them shared a silent bond for an instant before Harry responded. He nodded, and stood up from the table slowly. The four of them walked down the huge row of tables and through the doors of the Great Hall. They walked in silence for a bit before Ron finally spoke up.  
  
"So let me guess – you want to know how old they are, what they do for a living, if they have girlfriends --" Zanne cut him off.  
  
"No, Ron. I have no interest in two identical twins that have nothing better to do than run a joke shop in Diagon Alley. Not to mention they're related to you, how great can they be?" Zanne asked jokingly. Ron scowled a bit and shoved his hands into the pockets of his trousers. "Oh, I'm only joking, Ron. You don't take after them."  
  
"Oh, thanks," Ron said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I thought there was something important you needed to talk to us about..."  
  
"There is," Zanne shot back, "it's just not something I can blurt out without any kind of tact, Weasley." She scowled a bit, but her face fell when she saw Ron's hurt look. "Ron... I didn't mean to be a wench. Really. I'm sorry." She raised her eyebrows, trying to convey her apology in the most sincere manner. "Can we... do you think we could go back to the Room of Requirement, Hermione?" The bushy-haired girl nodded, turning into the corridor that contained their destination.

* * *

So... that was it. Kind of short and pretty sucky, but it's better than not having anything up. Review if you like! And recommend fics to me, I'm more than willing to read.


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